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Internal Management Memoranda

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 1, 1993

INTERNAL MANAGEMENT MEMORANDUM NUMBER: 6C1-6.140-1 (Revised)

SUBJECT: IFAS; Bomb Threat Procedures

An important preparatory step that each unit administrator should take regarding the following bomb threat procedure is to appoint a unit building representative for each major building occupied by the unit. Upon receiving a bomb threat call or finding a suspicious object in a unit's building area, unit employees should take the following steps:

1. The unit employee receiving the call should attempt to stay calm and remain on the telephone with the caller as long as possible As much information as possible should be gained from the caller because this information will be crucial to follow-up actions. See attached bomb threat telephone guide.

2. If possible, the person answering the call should alert a co-worker or supervisor of the bomb threat while the call is in progress. If they are unable to do so, the person receiving the call should immediately alert the unit administrator, or designated supervisor, of the bomb threat as soon as the call is completed.

3. The administrator/supervisor or person in charge of the unit should immediately call the University Police Department (UPD) to notify them of the bomb threat and designate another person to call the Vice President for Agriculture and Natural Resources office to report the bomb threat.

4. A UPD Shift Commander will respond to the bomb threat call and establish a command post. The Vice President or his designee and the unit building representative will report to the command post and assist the UPD Shift Commander as needed. The unit administrator and the individual who received the call should report as soon as possible to the designated command post area to which directed and await further instructions. The person who received the call should provide full information on the call to the UPD officer at that time.

5. The Vice President or his designee, along with the Shift Commander, will make a joint decision whether to evaluate the building given the specifics of the call. If circumstances warrant such a decision, the Shift Commander will authorize the evacuation and search of the building.

6. If it is determined that the building will not be evacuated, each unit in the affected building area will be called and advised of the bomb threat. The unit building representative will be asked to participate with a member of the University Police Department in a search of the building area assigned to the unit. All employees in the unit will be advised of the nature of the search.

   Should any employee feel uncomfortable about remaining in the building, they may be granted annual leave or compensatory leave at the supervisor's discretion.

7. If it is determined that the building will not be evacuated, the unit building representative should advise the instructors of any classes in session of the bomb threat and the decision not to evacuate. The unit building representative should also inform any instructors entering the building during the threat of the existence of the threat. In all cases, the decision to cancel any class will be made by the instructor.

8. If it is determined that the building will be evacuated, each unit housed there will be notified as soon as possible that the evacuation signal, normally the building fire alarm, will be activated.

1. Once the unit building representative has been notified of the impending evacuation, the unit building representative should notify employees, visitors, instructors and students that they are to evacuate the building at the designated signal. Employees should report to a predesignated area away from the building. The employees should be advised to take their personal belongings and any valuables with them as a precaution. If possible, the employees should open accessible windows in the area and leave all doors unlocked to assist the search process.

2. All unit employees should proceed in a calm and orderly fashion to a predesignated area away from the building. The unit building representative should record all employees of his/her unit at the predesignated area as soon as possible. If a unit has multiple building locations, each building location should have a building representative and predesignated location for employees of their building to report to.

3. The unit building representative should direct the employees to stay in the predesignated area until further notice.

4. The unit building representative should report to the command post and advise the Vice President or his designee and/or the unit administrator that the evacuation of their specific area has been completed or report only suspected cases of individuals remaining in the building.

5. The unit building representative may be asked to accompany a UPD officer to conduct a cursory inspection of the unit building area.

6. The unit building representative should report back to the unit administrator at the command center once the search is completed.

7. The unit administrator will provide additional instructions to the unit building representative at that time. The unit building representative should return to his/her predesignated area to update unit employees.

8. Once the entire evacuated area has been searched, the Shift Commander and the Vice President or his designee will jointly agree to the cancellation or the continuation of the evacuation procedures.

   The determination that it is safe to reoccupy the building will be based on the findings of the search team, the nature of the call and any other relevant information pertaining to the bomb threat.

9. When the evacuation procedures have been cancelled, the unit building representatives will be notified that the building may be reoccupied. All employees are then expected to return to their work assignment and office.

10. Should the workday end prior to the cancellation of the evacuation procedures, the employees are free to leave. The unit building representative should remain and along with the unit administrator re-enter the building and secure their unit's assigned area in the building.

11. The time each employee is away from their work station during the bomb search process will be counted as work time.

12. Any employee who does not feel comfortable in re-entering the building after the cancellation of the evacuation may be granted annual leave or compensatory leave at the supervisor's discretion. Unless specifically authorized by the Employee Relations Manager assigned to IFAS, administrative leave will not be granted.

1. The unit administrator will designate a unit building representative who will be responsible for coordinating emergency procedures for the unit. This person should be familiar with the unit's work areas and have keys to the locked rooms in the assigned building areas. Also, this person should be familiar with or have access to the work schedules/attendance records of unit employees.

2. Two backup representatives should also be designated by each unit in case the primary unit representative is not available during emergency circumstances.

3. The unit administrator should select a location away from the building to serve as a predesignated area for employees to assemble and familiarize each unit building representative with the predesignated area. The unit administrator and/or unit building representative will advise employees to report to that location during the evacuation procedures.

4. Unit administrators and/or unit building representatives will be responsible for determining to the extent possible if there are any unaccounted for employees of the unit remaining in the building.

5. Once a determination has been made, the unit administrator and/or unit building representative will provide the information to the UPD Shift Commander at the established UPD Command Post.

6. The unit building representative may be asked to assist UPD personnel in conducting a search of the unit's building areas.

7. The unit administrator and/or unit representative will be responsible for communicating instructions and information from the UPD Command Post to unit employees.